AR series
At the speeds racers travel aerodynamic efficiency can make the difference between winning and finishing in the pack. Thanks to our experience and commitment to solo-effort technology, including being the makers of the world’s fasted UCI-legal TT and track bikes, we knew it was possible to make a road bike even faster. Introduced last year at the Tour de France, the AR
was conceived, designed and built on the premise that road bikes can be made more aerodynamically efficient. The project was inspired in part by the desires of Garmin/Slipstream Pro Cycling Team and it is they who immediately
benefited from its existence.
This UCI-legal frameset including its design specific down tube, head tube, chainstays, seatstays, fork blades and a wheel well-style conforming seat tube, adopted the shielded internal cable routing found in our successful DA
to maximize the bike’s aerodynamic advantage. The result was immediate and tangible. Against its true adversary - the wind - the AR’s advantage is clear. In the spring of 2008, San Diego Wind Tunnel testing with the AR proved that,
depending on speed and the wind conditions, a rider can reasonably expect to save 58-75 seconds per hour of riding vs. Identical conditions on a round tube bike. To date it is the fastest aero road bike ever tested.
Imagine it: a 3 hour ride = 3(+) minutes saved. Depending on the perspective, it’s either free time or less effort - either way it is a tremendous benefit. This benefits anybody, at any speed.
The AR is the bike Garmin/Slipstream uses any time its riders put a nose in the wind. It is the perfect bike for sticking a breakaway, or for bringing one back. Having just received their bikes a few weeks earlier, the team rode the
AR to immediate success in the 2008 Tour de France when Will Frischkorn spent the entire day in a breakaway, ultimately taking second in Stage 3. The setting was perfect: A 5+ hour stage with just four men meant at least 1-1/4 hours at the front. Since then the AR has been used week-in and week-out by our pro team as a part of their on-going equipment stable.
Like all of our road bikes the AR maintains the crisp handling characteristics including necessary stiffness and ride quality for which FELT is known. We use only the finest materials available including our proprietary blends of carbon fibre.
From aerodynamic wheels to gearing biased to racing speed, the AR-series bikes are designed and built to deliver you to your fastest performances ever.